CLINICAL LINGUISTICS MOD.1

This course is part of the core training activities within the curriculum “Linguistics for Deafness and Language and Learning Disorders”. The curriculum enables students to acquire the linguistic and methodological tools necessary to study, describe, and analyze the linguistic difficulties of populations with language disorders and atypical patterns of language acquisition.
The course aims to provide students with both the theoretical foundations and the methodological tools of Clinical Linguistics, as well as knowledge of the main congenital and acquired language disorders. Particular attention will be devoted to language acquisition processes and to the difficulties characterizing Developmental Language Disorder, examined in a comparative perspective with typical language development trajectories.
In addition, students will acquire the main methods for assessing and analyzing comprehension and both spontaneous and elicited production, together with basic knowledge for the design of experimental tests.

1. Knowledge and Understanding
Understand the linguistic profiles of populations with language disorders.
Understand the main linguistic hypotheses on atypical first language acquisition, in comparison with typical developmental trajectories.
Understand the assessment tests for linguistic abilities: comprehension, elicited production, repetition, and grammaticality judgments.
Understand the data collection methodologies used in research on language acquisition.

2. Applying Knowledge and Understanding
Be able to analyze and critically discuss studies on both typical and atypical language acquisition, as well as on different language pathologies.
Correctly use the linguistic terminology and methodologies addressed in the course in applying acquired knowledge, e.g., by analyzing new data.
Apply acquired knowledge to generate new linguistic data.

3. Making Judgments
Be able to argue for different hypotheses in the analysis of language acquisition data.
Be able to produce acquisition data in support of, or in opposition to, different hypotheses.

4. Communication Skills
Orally present hypotheses and linguistic phenomena covered in the course using the specific terminology of linguistic studies.
Deliver an oral presentation on one of the topics addressed during the course.
Interact critically and respectfully with peers and the instructor during class activities.

5. Learning Skills
Develop critical reasoning skills.
Communicate information, ideas, problems, and solutions concerning atypical language acquisition data.
Identify and use appropriate bibliographic sources for studying a phenomenon related to atypical language acquisition.

A solid background in linguistics and the ability to read scientific articles in English are required.

- Topic 1: Introduction to Clinical Linguistics (object of study, scientific scope, and brief history of the discipline)
- Topic 2: Classification and definition of language disorders; linguistic profiles of different pathologies
- Topic 3: Description and analysis of typical language development (phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon)
- Topic 4: Assessment of typical and atypical linguistic profiles in children and adults; discussion of the main standardized tests available for Italian
- Topic 5: Developmental Language Disorder (risk factors, early indicators, diagnosis, description of the linguistic profile of children with DLD, and diagnostic markers)
- Topic 6: Developmental Language Disorder and bilingualism (the relationship between bilingualism and DLD, diagnosis of the disorder, diagnostic tools)
- Topic 7: Language disorders associated with neurodegenerative diseases: Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease

Required readings:

Gagliardi G. (2021). Che cos'è la linguistica clinica. Roma: Carocci. Chapters: 1-4
D'Amico S., De Cagno A.G., Levorato M.C., Rossetto T. & Sansavini A. (2021). Il Disturbo primario del linguaggio. Oltre la Consensus Conference. Trento: Erikson. Chapters: 1-3
Cummins L. (2020). Language in Dementia. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. Chapters: 1-3.
Sansavini A. et al. (2021). Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review. Brain Science 11, 654.
Caprin, C., Guasti, M.T. (2009). The acquisition of morphosyntax in Italian: A cross-sectional study. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30(1):23-52.
Gagliardi, G., Tamburini, F. (2021). Linguistic Biomarkers For The Detection Of Mild Cognitive Impairment. Lingue e Linguaggio, XX(1): 1 – 31.
Crocetti, P. et al. (2022). (2020): T-PEC: a novel test for the elicited production of clitic pronouns in Italian. Preliminary data. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics.
Vender, M. et al. (2016). How early L2 children perform on Italian clinical markers of SLI: A study of clitic production and nonword repetition. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 30.2, 150-169
Marini, A. et al. (2025). How bilingualism affects cognitive and linguistic skills in children with developmental language disorders. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1–15.

Additional readings (optional):

Gagliardi G. (2021). Che cos'è la linguistica clinica. Roma: Carocci. Chapter 5
Calza', L., Gagliardi, G., Rossini, R., Tamburini, F. (2021). Linguistic features and automatic classifiers for identifying mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Computer Speech And Language, 65, 1-18.
Gagliardi G., Tamburini F. (2022). The Automatic Extraction of Linguistic Biomarkers as a Viable Solution for the Early Diagnosis of Mental Disorders, in: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, Paris, European Language Resources Association, pp. 5234 - 5242 (atti di: Thirteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, Marseille, France, 20-25 June 2022)
Cuteri, V., et al. (2022). Linguistic feature of anorexia nervosa: a prospective case–control pilot study, «EATING AND WEIGHT DISORDERS», 27, pp. 1367 – 1375.
Martinelli, E. Gagliardi, G. (2023). Compromissioni semantico-lessicali nei pazienti italofoni affetti da Demenza: un'analisi corpus-based, «ITALIANO LINGUADUE», 15, pp. 711 – 732.
Hancock A.S. et al. (2023). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy measures of neural activity in children with and without developmental language disorder during a working memory task. Brain and Behavior, 13(2):e2895.
Schneider, S. et al. (2015). Haemodynamic and electrophysiological markers of pragmatic language comprehension in schizophrenia. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 16(6), 398–410.
Bambini, V. et al. (2025). From semantic concreteness to concretism in schizophrenia: An automated linguistic analysis of speech produced in figurative language interpretation, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics.
Marini A. et al. (2019) Linguistic Skills in Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorders: A Pilot Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(493).

Learning will be assessed through an oral exam consisting of open-ended questions.
The first question will involve a discussion of an article selected by the student from the optional readings provided. The remaining questions will cover topics chosen by the instructor from those addressed during the course.

Details:

- Knowledge and Understanding: assessed through questions on the topics covered in the course
- Application of Knowledge and Understanding: assessed through the discussion of a selected article
- Judgment Skills: assessed through both the discussion of a selected article and questions on course topics
- Communication Skills: assessed through all exam questions

oral

A. Scores 18–22 are awarded when the student demonstrates:
- sufficient knowledge and ability to apply understanding of the topics covered during the course;
- limited ability to use specific terminology, interpret data, and make independent judgments;
- adequate communication skills.

B. Scores 23–26 are awarded when the student demonstrates:
- fair knowledge and ability to apply understanding of the topics covered during the course;
- fair ability to use specific terminology, interpret data, and make independent judgments;
- fair communication skills.

C. Scores 27–30 are awarded when the student demonstrates:
- good or excellent knowledge and ability to apply understanding of the topics covered during the course;
- good or excellent ability to use specific terminology, interpret data, and make independent judgments;
- fully appropriate communication skills.

D. Honors (30 cum laude) is awarded when the student demonstrates excellent knowledge and ability to apply understanding of the topics covered during the course, outstanding judgment, and excellent communication skills.

The course will consist of lectures and interactive sessions.